Top 100 Retailers Report.

The nation’s top retailers managed to hold on to their coveted spots, even with the troublesome economy, but a new group of companies are sneaking onto the playing field, according to an annual ranking of retailers by sales. The STORES Top 100 Retailers, featured in the July issue of STORES Magazine, are ranked by U.S. retail sales, rather than overall corporate revenues. Additional changes include the elimination (in most instances) of gasoline/fueling stations and other non-retail sales. This year’s Top 100 Retailers list was compiled and analyzed by Kantar Retail.

With the economy putting a huge dent in consumer’s budgets last year, discount and dollar stores became much more attractive to the American family. Dollar General (#28) climbed seven spots this year, boasting year-over-year revenue growth of 12.8 percent from 2009 to 2010. North Carolina-based Family Dollar (#45) moved up from No. 56 in 2009 and Dollar Tree (#61) jumped 15 spots.

“Every economic downturn creates new opportunities for companies to put their best foot forward,” said Susan Reda, Editor, STORES Media. “What’s most notable however, is the fact that the majority of America’s biggest brands managed to hold on to their top spots on the list, even with consumer confidence and discretionary spending both taking a hit the last few years.”

Remaining unchanged from last year, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart (#1), and the country’s largest grocery chain, Kroger (#2), once again claimed the top two spots. Walmart’s low prices were the perfect match for consumers’ lightened budgets last year, and Kroger now has more than 3,600 establishments nationwide, the most of any other U.S. grocery chain.

“Transformational changes,” cited by CEO Gregg Steinhafel, are lifting traffic and sales at Target (#3), which climbed from No.5 last year. Walgreens (#4), which now boasts a presence in all 50 states, also jumped two places.

Spots seven through 10 mirror the rankings from last year’s Top 100 list, proving the shaky economy couldn’t budge the well-known brands of CVS Caremark (#7), Lowe’s (#8), Sears Holdings (#9) and Best Buy (#10).

The nation’s largest home improvement and warehouse club chains – No. 5 Home Depot and No. 6 Costco, respectively — round out the top 10.

Making its Top 100 debut is IKEA North America (#92).

“As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart’s U.S. sales are nearly four times larger than number two Kroger, so it’s hard to imagine a list without Walmart at the top anytime in the foreseeable future,” explained Mary Brett Whitfield, Senior Vice President at Kantar Retail. “However, as IKEA’s debut and the movement of the small-format value retailers indicates, there is still plenty of opportunity for the rest of the list to be reshaped as the retail landscape evolves.”

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